The LG Nexus 5X has been in the news this January – for all of the right reasons – as Google has just given the Canadians another $50 discount, making the new price for the 16GB model at only $389 CAD and the 32GB model at $449 CAD. This is just after Google announced an earlier price reduction of $60 two weeks ago. All three colors – Carbon Black, Quartz White and Ice Blue – and all configurations are in stock and ready for the usual two-business day shipping. There is still no price reduction to the higher-end Huawei Nexus 6P.
This year Google decided to sell both a low/mid-range model, the Nexus 5X and a high-end model, the Nexus 6P. This provided a gateway for Google to hit a larger market while keeping the more traditional Nexus owner happy. Last year’s Motorola Nexus 6 shock a lot of Nexus 5 owners by the sheer size and price of the device. It also enticed and introduced some new customers that would never purchase a mid-range Nexus device that always seemed to take poor pictures. The highly rated Nexus 6P can hold its own against the flagships from Samsung, LG and easily HTC. The Nexus 5X, though definitely mid-range, still offers up a great camera and build.
The entry-level Nexus 5X offers a lot of value – It sports a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 423 pixels-per-inch (PPI). LG picked the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor with four cores running at 1.44 GHZ and two cores running at 1.82 GHz for its brains. The 5X packs 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage with no means to expand that memory. It also sports a great 12.3MP main camera with laser autofocus, dual-tone LED flash, large 1.55µm pixel size and a large aperture of f/2.0. The front-facing camera (FFC) is 5MP for taking selfies and video chatting. A fingerprint sensor is included that will verify you with Android Pay mobile payments and other retailers with its NFC capabilities. A 2700 mAh non-removable battery provides power.
Google has never given a reason for this double-drop in price, but we will certainly take it. It seems as though the Nexus 5X is the choice among Nexus cult – a solid product at a reasonable price.